Harry Potter 1. Chapter 1

Everything that you recognize is the property of J.K. Rowling.

And thank you to my lovely Necromancer Friend for editing all this for me :)

Chapter 1

Hermione

"The Yule Ball is meant to be a welcoming for our guests. You will make them feel accepted and you will treat this practice with the respect I expect you to treat the actual dance. Do not forget that the reputation of this school is depending on you NOT acting up."

Hermione, Harry, and Ron sat in Snape's dungeons, listening to Professor McGonagall discuss the importance of the upcoming Yule Ball. Professor Dumbledore had informed them of this meeting just the day before, at the dinner feast. Instead of afternoon classes the Gryffindors and Slytherins of fourth year and older were to have dance lessons in the Dungeons, whilst the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws had dance lessons in Professor Flitwick's classroom. They were mandatory, and the younger students all got to laze the afternoon away, because most of the professors were occupied.

The Yule Ball was only a little over a week away, so most people knew who they were going to go with by now, but some still didn't know how to dance. Clearly, Hogwarts was rectifying that. No one knew if the newcomers knew how to dance, but it was assumed that they did, because Beauxbatons and Durmstrang were both more traditional in their teachings than Hogwarts was. The Hogwarts teachers wanted to make sure that they didn't end up looking silly because their students didn't know a simple thing like dancing.

Hermione found it surprising how large the potion's room could be when all the desks were magicked out and the lamps were lit to their fullest. It was like a whole new room, and it seemed that even the cold draft that was typically wafting through the dungeon had been exterminated.

Professor Snape was in a corner, looking very uncomfortable, clearly not enjoying the transformation to his classroom.

"You will NOT embarrass this school, will you, Mr and Mr Weasley? McGonagall rapidly turned to aim her pointy spectacles directly at Fred and George, who had been attempting to dance a cricket on one of the Slytherin fourth years' heads. They zoomed the terrified cricket back to them as soon as the professor's eyes were on them.

"We would never dream of it, Teach", Fred said with a toothy grin, holding the cricket in between his fingers. With a slight glint in her spectacles, Professor McGonagall had transformed the cricket into two small golden birds, that flipped around their heads, nipping at their ears.

The entire room laughed, and Hermione stifled a giggle. McGonagall flipped her wand and the birds headed out the window. "Now, if we may get onto business." McGonagall's curt voice cut through the room, silencing it instantly. "We will be teaching you to dance. This is as noble an art as dueling to the Wizarding World, which many of the older Wizarding families have kept up with. But there are still many of you that aren't accustomed to the graceful art of dance."

An icy cackle rose through the hall and Hermione knew the sound immediately. "You expect the people in this room to be _graceful_?" Draco Malfoy was sitting on the other side of the room finding absolute hilarity in this concept and talking under his breath to his friends, who in turn would laugh along with him. "It's a good thing that you're a transfiguration teacher, 'cause we're going to need to get rid of all these trolls in the room."

"That's enough, Mr. Malfoy." McGonagall scowled at the blond, who in turn became quiet. As much as he liked to make fun of Gryffindors, their Head of House still scared him as much as she scared everyone else.

_Why was it always Slytherin?_ Hermione had to wonder.

"I will be pairing you up by height", McGonagall stated as she grabbed the arm of a squirrelly boy from Slytherin. As she moved over to the other side of the room, she offered his hand to Katie Bell, who looked at it like it was a rodent. Seeing the exchange, she explained, "There will be pairs of one from each house, because we are trying to convey that we are a family, here at Hogwarts and you _will _learn to deal with each other, at least for the time being."

Hermione froze, as did most of the Gryffindors.

The Slytherins had a different response. There was shouting and screaming. "I'm not going to touch _them._" "They don't even bathe!" "They'll make us look bad!" "Who knows the difference between a Gryffindor and an imp?"

"You will dance together, and you will deal with it. Some semblance of decorum is the mature response. And if any of you would like to attend the dance at all, you will be quiet and not make a fool out of all of us." McGonagall was clearly talking through her teeth at this point, but she still managed to silence the entire room.

McGonagall was walking down the rows of students, grabbing a disgruntled Gryffindor here, a spluttering Slytherin there. Hermione, standing with Harry and Ron, all looked completely dumbfounded. They gave each other sidelong glances that seemed to ask the same question.

_How were they supposed to dance with Slytherins for a week?_

Professor McGonagall was getting closer to their section.

"Miss Granger. Mr Malfoy." Hermione snapped up. She must have heard wrong. McGonagall must be talking about something else. She couldn't be paired with _Draco Malfoy_.

"You mean you want me to dance with _that_? My blood objects just being in the same room." Malfoy's cold voice rose above the ruckus. At the sound of that, Hermione's gaze dropped to the floor. She'd heard it all before, but that didn't mean it didn't still bother her.

"I'll get you for that Malfoy!" Hermione lifted her head. Oh great, they had developed an audience. Bloody hell, Ron was staring down Malfoy, wand pointing at his throat. Malfoy responded by drawing his own wand.

"You won't insult her again!" Harry hopped up right behind Ron, to back him up. And even Neville was standing, however there was no wand in his hand. A blush of thankfulness crept onto her cheeks. She had great friends.

"That is ENOUGH! Malfoy, Weasley, and Potter, fifty points from each of you! This is what is what I meant when I said that you will NOT embarrass us! I understand that you have your differences but at least, for now, you shall _pretend_ to be one, respectful student body." Her words were said as an order, with so much malice that everyone looked a little lost for words for a few moments.

"She just shouldn't have to deal with that." Ron said, almost as a whisper.

McGonagall shot him a look. Ron sat. "If Ms Granger has an apt reason for not being able to dance with Mr Malfoy, she will do the mature thing, and tell me after class. But, as I'm fairly certain, there is no such reason, is there, Ms Granger?"

The last thing she wanted to do was dance with Draco Malfoy, but as Hermione looked up at Malfoy, she saw a smirk form around his pointy face. At that moment, the only thing she wanted to do was wipe it off his face. Emboldened, she stood up and said, "I have no reason not to dance with _Mr Malfoy_"

Malfoy's smirk turned into a tight line beneath his nose. Before he could say a word, however, McGonagall said, "Now that that's settled, may I continue to address the rest of the class?" It wasn't a question: She was daring someone to speak.

No one did.

When everyone had partnered up and McGonagall was the only one smiling, she waved her wand, and music began to play. "Boys, one hand on the waist and girls, one hand on the shoulder, please." She was pulling Snape out of his corner and was modeling what they were supposed to do, correcting Snape's hand placement as she spoke. There were a few giggles scattered around the room at Snape's obvious disdain, but when his scowl deepened and he turned it towards the students, everyone quieted.

Malfoy stood up and headed towards Hermione. She gritted her teeth and clasped her hand on his before he could make a comment. They went out onto the makeshift dance floor and as the Slytherin reached for her waist, he muttered, "Don't fall on me, Granger. These are good robes."

Holding her tongue, figuring it was the easiest way to make the afternoon go by faster, she placed a hand on his boney shoulder.

Draco

She was actually touching him. With her filthy little hands, she was touching him. He must tell Father about this; how much this place was really going to the dogs. Dancing with Mudbloods, who would have heard of such a thing? McGonagall was clearly mental.

It was unbelievable that Granger had stuck with him, just out of spite, though. He was sure that as part of the Golden Trio, she probably could have gotten out of it. Everyone knew that she was McGonagall's favorite. But she had agreed to it. Draco didn't want to admit it, but that was a bit impressive.

He caught a look at a very distressed Pansy Parkinson, trying to make sure that her and Weasel-bee didn't actually have contact. He laughed to himself at the funny picture it made. As if his silent laugh commanded her, she caught his eye and threw him a look. It was not a nice look. As if he had chosen this and that he actually preferred to be partnered with the Gryffindor Princess?!

McGonagall was talking again. Explaining something about where the feet were supposed to go before the spinning. Salazar help him, he already knew this garbage. Every respectable Wizarding family knew how to do these silly dances, already. And yet, he was forced to relearn with a member of the Hermione fucking Granger.

He glanced at his partner. She was staring at McGonagall with rapt attention. She was focusing so hard, the lip that she was biting was starting to bleed. She then looked down at her feet and did a small shuffling movement, as if practicing the move that McGonagall had just mentioned. Ridiculous. She was an annoying little overachiever even at dancing. She looked up from her shoes and Draco sent her a disdainful look. She threw one right back.

"Now that you've seen the four basic movements I'm going to put them together. Watch my footing." The old boiler had explained all the first steps and was now pulling a very angry Snape across the room. This made an even funnier picture than Parkinson and Weasel. Everyone who was watching was holding back laughter. Even Granger, next to him seemed to be smiling a little tensely.

He shook his head at the revelation that him and Granger would ever have anything in common.

"Now." Bugger, Professor McGonagall's voice was commanding. Once she had everyone's attention, she continued, "you will practice with your partners. Professor Snape and I will practice it the first time with you and then we'll move among you, correcting."

The music came on, and in one swift movement, he was leading the mudblood in a circle. He could hear her muttering _one, two, three, one, two, three_ under her breath and scoffed.

She tripped once when Draco put his foot on hers. She couldn't even keep in step. This was going to be a pain. They had only gone around once when her legs went completely stiff in front of his, and she started falling into him. In a ridiculous attempt to catch her, her mouth banged directly into his shoulder. Bloody hell, that hurt!

"Damn, Granger! You finally find something you're not good at?" Draco sneered at her as he pushed her off him, but a quick movement out of the corner of his eye made him turn. He just caught Pansy slipping her wand back into her pocket.

Parkinson had cursed Granger. He internally laughed again. He should have thought of that! He gave a smirk of approval to Pansy, letting her know, that even though she was doing it for her own purposes, it was still amusing.

"Miss Granger! Is everything okay?" Professor McGonagall had come running over to them. "What happened?" She snarled at Draco.

"Don't know, Ma'am. She's probably troll-footed."

"Mr Malfoy, a serious answer would have sufficed." Her voice was ice-cold. She knelt down beside Granger.

She was pushing to her feet, her hand covering her mouth and blood pooling over her fingers. Draco looked sideways at his robes. There was dark, crimson, muggle blood on his nice, new robes. He then tried to look around McGonagall to see what Pansy hit her with. He couldn't tell around everyone.

"Well, Madame Pomfrey should take a look at that." McGonagall was shuffling everyone out of the way, so she could get the girl out from the middle of the pack. "You all have dancing to do, don't you?" She shouted at the surrounding group.

Weasel-dick and Potty were still hovering around, but Draco wasn't the only one to notice. "Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley, I believe your dance partners are looking for you." As McGonagall nodded towards the pair, Draco looked around at the two girls least happy to continue dancing.

When she was able, Granger shot him a look. He could see the glowing fire in her eyes, but the effect wasn't what it could have been, since she still held her hands in front of her mouth. Now, he could see what Pansy had done. Two clearly defined front teeth were peeking out over her chin. He suppressed another laugh. He'd have to give Pansy credit for that one, later.

McGonagall was swiftly walking Granger to the door and Draco whipped around when he heard his name. "Mr. Malfoy, you're coming, too."

They walked in silence to the Hospital wing. McGonagall swept up the bloody mess as it fell from Granger's hands.

When they got there, Madame Pomfrey waddled over to her and lead her to a bed. She started to work magic on her mouth, coaxing Granger's hands away from it.

The McGonagall Hag pulled him over a few beds and said, "What really happened, Mr. Malfoy?"

"I really don't know, professor, I think she just fell." Hell, he didn't want to be covering for Pansy, even though her use of the hex was quite impressive. But he was taught to protect his friends, even if said friend had been being a jealous shrew. He was sure Granger would tattle as soon as she could speak, but, he figured that they'd cross that bridge when they had to.

She pinned him with a stare, but had evidently decided that he was telling the truth and let him be on his way. He made one more glance at Granger before he walked out. She was sitting on the bed, smiling into a mirror, with Madam Pomfrey hovering over her. _Probably making sure that the spell hadn't marred her perfect skin_. He'd never taken Granger for self-absorbed, but she certainly looked that way right now.

He then turned around and headed towards his common room.


	2. Chapter 2

a/n: Thanks for the follows and the review guys! I was intending to update every week, and I'm still intending to. Sorry about this week, though, I've been sick. There will be another chapter up, soon!

And of course, thank you to the Necromancer, for editing :)

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><p>Chapter 2<p>

Hermione

When Professor McGonagall came back, Madame Pomfrey woke Hermione up with a gentle shake. She had been sleeping off the healing potions, because they'd taken so much from her. Hermione sat up with a little tenderness in her jaw, but everything seemed fine.

"Good evening. Are you feeling okay?" Madame Pomfrey's face looked worried.

"Yeah, I'm fine. How long was I alseep?"

"Just two hours. But, unfortunately, that means you've missed the dinner feast. I can have one of the elves bring you something up if you'd like."

"No, I think I'm fine." _No need to make a house-elf's life harder because she had a git as a dance partner._

"Do you know who cursed you?"Professor McGonagall now spoke.

"I'm not really sure, Professor." She figured Malfoy had to be involved, but she would have seen it if he did it, being his dance partner and all. So she couldn't very well go blaming things on him without knowing for sure, even if she did want to give him another nice punch in the nose. She also didn't really know much about what went on, because she was mostly obscuring her view with her hands, trying to make sure no one saw the buck teeth that had mysteriously appeared.

McGonagall gave her a meaningful look. "Well, Miss Granger, if being with Mr Malfoy is too much, I can switch up the partners a little. I would have thought that out of anybody, you would be able to deal with his attitude. But if it is taking too much from you, let me know."

Great. Professor McGonagall had just played THAT card. She wouldn't let McGonagall down. Besides, she would prove to herself that she could take Malfoy and his stupid jokes.

"It's okay, Professor. You don't have to change things around just for me. It's only a week."

The older woman almost looked relieved. "Good. You can keep him in line. Now, I will see you tomorrow at 4pm prompt, Miss Granger." With a quick nod, she had turned on her heels and whipped out of the room.

Madame Pomfrey was muttering to herself as Hermione got out of bed and the mediwitch took her sheets. Hermione thought it was a good idea not to bother her as the student witch slipped out the door.

After she got out of the hospital wing, Hermione slowly wandered in the opposite direction of Gryffindor tower. She didn't really want to head directly there, because she knew she would have to talk about how Draco was as a dance partner, and she really just wanted to forget the whole mess. She thought that maybe if she waited long enough, they would all have gone to bed. Harry and Ron would wait up for her, but she could almost always deal with those two. And she wanted to thank them for earlier, anyway.

She stopped by the kitchens, because it turned her walk into a much longer walk, and she had missed dinner. She went to go see Dobby, and see if any of the other house-elves had taken to her S.P.E.W. idea.

Half an hour later, she had a few cakes for Ron and Harry stuffed in the pockets of her robes and a few less galleons. She had left a few on the tables, hoping that the elves would notice after she left. She had tried once again to get them to take them outright, but they seemed even less receptive than the last time she tried.

She was going up a corridor when she bumped into someone else sneaking down to the kitchens. As she fell into the wall, she saw the blond that she'd been trying to push out of her head all evening.

"Damn, Granger, you're as bad at walking as you are when attempting to dance."

"Maybe it's the partner." She spouted as she stood straight and brushed off her robes.

At that point, he got very close to her, trying to throw her off. "You can't honestly believe that a mudblood would ever hold their own next to a Malfoy."

She stared right back at him, challenging his grey-blue eyes with her brown ones. "Well, the people who stand next to you are usually as pig-headed as you, so I do believe that anyone with morals could actually 'hold their own'."

She sauntered off, throwing off as much confidence as she could muster. When she turned the corner, she leaned against the wall. She'd never been that close to Malfoy before, or exchanged that many words in a private area. She hadn't noticed before, but they had been alone. Completely. She couldn't remember the last time she had been alone with him. But, he wasn't all that scary, she told herself. She'd seen his eyes flicker when she called him out. He was almost _surprised_. She shook her head, getting thoughts of the Slytherin off her mind.

A deep breath, and she was off to the Gryffindor common room to give Harry and Ron their presents and gratitude.

Draco

Granger had challenged him. She had insulted him. She had called his family pig-headed.

He should be more offended, but he couldn't help feeling a little electrified. She had stood up to him, and he _wanted_ to keep arguing with her. No one had ever really argued with him.

Crabbe and Goyle aren't much for conversation and he was pretty sure they were scared of him, anyway. Pansy was a whiny bitch who liked arguing, but she never actually had a legitimate statement. Blaise Zabini was really the only one who ever put him in his place but that was very rare and he always said it as part of the conversation, no argument needed. He remembered the time Blaise had first told him off.

They'd been in their second year. Malfoy had been trying to show off that he knew how to counter-jinx when no one else could do it right. He had dared Goyle to think of his worse hex, and send it at him. Draco would throw it out of the way, to prove he was the better wizard.

Honestly, Draco had only successfully done a counter-jinx once, so when Goyle threw a puss-squirting hex at him (thank Salazar that that was all Goyle could come up with) he said the wrong thing and amplified the hex instead.

Crabbe and Goyle had run off, scared of what their leader would do to them, but Zabini had stayed and helped Malfoy get his face back to normal.

"Well, that was dumb. Try not to let your hubris get in the way again." Blaise had said. Draco had felt thoroughly idiotic, but Blaise had told him what he thought, straight out. That was one of the best things about Blaise. He always knew what to say and how to say it. Draco never even wanted to argue with him.

But, Granger was different. He enjoyed arguing with the Gryffindor Princess. It was – fun. He couldn't wait to do it again and watch as she gnawed on her lip to come up with an answer, and then see that glint when she found something good to say.

_Some good banter was entertaining, even if it was with Gryffindor scum._

Hermione

Hermione woke up early and just laid in bed for a bit. Thoughts of yesterday and last night racing through her head, tantalizing her with the hope that maybe it was all just a bad dream. The dancing, the fighting, being alone in a dark hallway with Draco Malfoy. She wasn't quite sure why, but she hadn't mentioned that little adventure to Ron and Harry when they were talking last night. Maybe if she ignored it, it would just disappear from her memory.

Maybe if she stayed in bed, _everything_ would go away and she wouldn't have to deal with dancing with the Slytherin ass.

But she had classes all morning and she certainly wasn't about to tarnish her perfect attendance record, so she finally got herself to get up and trudge to the baths.

The morning slid by just a little too fast for Hermione's liking. Pretty soon it was lunchtime and she wandered into the Great Hall, anticipating what was going to happen later.

She sat down next to Harry, Ron, and Neville and picked at her food. While Harry and Ron were in a heated discussion about Quidditch, Hermione talked to Neville. She thanked him for standing up with her the day before, and he told her about asking Ginny to the ball. He hid a sweet little smile when he mentioned the redhead. Hermione smiled too, because the thought of Ginny and Neville would be really nice.

After lunch, Hermione, Ron, Harry and Neville were joined by a few younger gryffindors heading down to the dungeons. When Ron and Harry asked each other why there were younger students with them, Hermione explained that it was most likely girls and boys that had been asked by an older student, and were still required to dance.

Her theory was confirmed when Ginny joined them, excitedly talking to Hermione about what they would wear..

"We need to go to Hogsmeade this weekend so I can pick up a dress." She was grinning while she talked. "Mum thought that I wouldn't be joining the celebrations this year, so I didn't get to bring one. Hermione, you'll know how to help me. Oh bollocks, I have to owl mum that I won't be coming back for Christmas."

"Of course I'll help, Gin. And I'll go up to the Owlrey with you right after this."

"Thanks! Oh, and don't you need a dress as well? Or have you got one and it's as much of a secret as your date?" She said this last bit a little quieter, but the boys were too caught up in their conversation to notice, anyway.

Hermione wished that she could be as excited as her red-headed friend, but she couldn't really decide how she felt about the dance. She had kept her little secret of who she was going with from all but Ginny, and she was excited about it, but not as much as she felt that she should be. She grinned at her friend, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"Nope. You can help me pick out the perfect dress, too." They walked with arms around each other, and Hermione was feeling slightly more aflutter by the time they descended the stairs.

However, all the excitement she had gotten from her friend escaped when she walked into the room and saw all the Slytherins sitting up along the walls.

Draco

Last night had been weird. But ever since Granger had gotten in his face last night, Draco had come up with a new tactic. He was going to get under her skin about everything. He'd make sure that this hour or two of every day was the worst she had. He would get her all worked up again. And he wasn't about to admit that the reason for it was to get her worrying her lip again.

As she walked in, he smirked at her. She looked away to talk to Weasel. Why did she even talk to him? It's not like there was anything special about him. He wasn't even good at anything.

Damn, why did he care who she talked to?

McGonagall and Snape were at the forefront of the room again. She was going on about a more complicated part of the dance that she was going to teach. Damn. What if he didn't know that part? Maybe he'd practice on his own, just to show up Granger that much more when they were here in class. He didn't know why he was taking this to heart, but he felt an obligation to make as much a fool out of the Gryffindor princess as possible.

And as a sidenote, not that he would ever admit this to anyone, he honestly enjoyed dancing. Not to mention that it was another proof of status. Most of the higher-ranking members of Wizarding society had kept up the tradition of teaching their heirs to dance and dancing was a show of a pureblood upbringing.

He sauntered over to Granger with a big smirk on his face. When she saw it, she scowled at him. He smiled even bigger at that; this was going to be fun.

"What are you possibly smiling about, Malfoy?" She berated him as he took her hand and led her to the floor. "Another slimy, underhanded trick up your sleeve?"

He was taken aback by the fact that she was so blatantly standing up to him again, and took a minute or two to process what she'd said. Did she think that the only way he could win was with magic? Okay, he'd play it her way and he'd STILL win.

"Lost for words already?" She wasn't giving him any leeway today. She was clearly still upset about what had happened the day before, even though he wasn't the one that did it.

"No, just wondering which creature I haven't compared you to, yet. You know, I really don't like reusing material. It makes me look cheap." He smirked at her again.

She glared and rolled her eyes at his comment, then turned away to face McGonagall, who was speaking to the class.

After the spat early on, there wasn't too much fighting between him and the Gryffindor for the rest of practice. He had noticed Professor McGonagall keeping a close eye on them since yesterday, and thought it best to keep off her radar. It wasn't that easy when McGonagall had come over to inspect them and take a closer look at what they were doing wrong for at least twenty minutes. She was clearly making sure that a repeat of yesterday didn't happen. She obviously also believed that it was all his fault.

Oh well, let her think it was him. He'd take credit for a curse like that. And it's not like McGonagall is going to do anything to him, because Snape would always take care of it.

Hermione

Hermione had asked her best friends to help her practice. Ron wasn't very good, but he stuck to the idea that he shouldn't ever need it and it didn't really matter to him if he was a bad dancer, whereas, Harry had just found out that him and his date were supposed to start off the evening because he was a Triwizard Champion. Suddenly struck by the epiphany that he was going to have to dance in front of hundreds of people, Harry took Hermione up on her offer of practice.

So, they waited for everyone to leak out of the common room: it was easier to do such things without an audience. Harry and Hermione shoved all the puffy chairs to the walls and Ron sat on the edge of the room, agreeing to start and stop the music.

Right from the beginning, it was bad. Even worse than when she danced with Malfoy, which she wasn't about to admit to anyone besides herself. She had already stepped on Harry's foot twice and they had crashed into each other every single time they had tried to spin. He didn't lead well, and she was a little too clumsy to not have a strong lead. '_Which Malfoy was',_ Hermione found herself thinking.

About fifteen minutes later, they decided to take a break because they weren't getting anywhere. That was when Ron decided to try and stood up with Hermione. With Ron, it was just as bad, possibly even worse. He was a decent lead, but no better than Harry at trying to keep a beat. Ron kept trying to move a half second too slow, which was when she was supposed to move. They were really awkward too, because Ron had grown so much taller and bulkier than her over the past summer. Neither of them fit with her well.

"We could practice tomorrow night. Maybe we'll get better if we practice together." Harry was looking hopefully at Hermione.

"Um, maybe." She was trying to help them out, but she knew that this wasn't going to help her any.

They only had half an hour under their belts, but it seemed like so much longer to Hermione. Hermione stayed up, saying that she had wanted to finish her potions essay that was due next week. Even though they weren't currently having potions, Snape was making sure that they didn't forget that he was the toughest teacher at Hogwarts.

Hermione sat down to write, but she couldn't focus. She wanted to practice some more. She wanted to make sure that Malfoy couldn't make fun of her tomorrow. Since she didn't want to insult her friends, and being watched was not ideal, she closed her books and crept down the porthole, thinking of the only place she knew where she could be completely alone.


	3. Chapter 3

a/n: Alright guys, I'm so sorry again! I just started a new job and I haven't had the time I'd like to write. But the story will continue, I promise!

Thanks for those who followed and reviewed!

And of course, always thanks to the Necromancer for editing :)

Nothing you recognize is mine, it is all the property of JK Rowling.

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><p>.<p>

Chapter 3

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Draco

He ducked into the room of requirement, making sure no one had followed him. He had just walked past three times thinking of a perfect place to dance.

He remembered the day he had accidentally found it, in his second year. He had been trying to follow Pot-head, thinking that he'd be able to get him in trouble for something. He had lost him somewhere around the fifth floor and when he kept walking, he ended up on the seventh floor, completely lost. He had been pacing when the door appeared the first time. It had been a huge storage room, which looked like it went on for miles. Right in the front was a map detailing every piece of the castle and the grounds, right down to where he was standing and how to get back to the dungeons without being caught.

He had attempted getting back to that map for years, but had never managed it. Instead, he discovered how the room worked, realizing that it was done by need. He assumed that since he hadn't ever needed that map again, just wanted it, was why it had never appeared.

Today the room was circular and the walls were giant mirrors. There were a few chairs along the edge and a small table, next to a rack of towels.

Apparently, the room had decided that a partner was also necessary, because standing in the middle of the room looking caught off-guard was someone else.

_Granger._

They stared at each other for a moment, each coming to the realization that they couldn't enter the same room if they hadn't been after the same thing.

Draco searched frantically for something witty to say. What he wouldn't give for one of their fights right now. But she beat him to it.

"Did you really miss my company that much?" She was clearly being sarcastic, but seemed to be as confused as he was. "What are you doing here?" She asked, narrowing her eyes skeptically.

It was the dislike in her eyes that brought him back to his thoughts. "Well, I didn't feel like I got enough laughs today. I thought I'd come up here and watch you make a fool of yourself again."

She huffed and crossed her arms. She had clearly been there for a while, because he could make out the sweat glistening on her arms as her chest heaved. "And you just _knew _I'd be up here? Been practicing up with Professor Trelawney, have you?" She looked at him a bit more clearly, and he started to squirm. She needed to stop piercing him with those eyes.

Draco snorted. "Yeah, I've been willingly spending time with that crazy old bat."

"Forget it." She ignored the rudeness about Professor Trelawney. Even though she did believe that she _was_ crazy, she certainly wasn't going to agree with Malfoy and his ill-mannered comment. "What are you doing here?" It hadn't really been indicated as a question, and she was looking at him with a different expression, now. It wasn't exasperation or loathing, or any of the other looks that he'd gotten used to. This was new. Almost as if he were a hard potion that she was trying to figure out: quizzical with a hint of triumph.

"You were coming up here to dance." It wasn't a question. Coming from her mouth it sounded so dumb, so weird. He – Draco Malfoy – had come up here to dance. And the Mudblood knew it.

He started to stumble on his words, not sure what to say. But then, he remembered his promise to himself to make her argue with him again. And this also seemed like a perfect place to throw her off her axis. _Let's see how this plays out._

"Well someone needs to show you how a real Wizard dances."

He looked up and Granger burst into laughter.

.

Hermione

Who had been playing with Polyjuice Potion? There was no way that this was Draco Malfoy...sneaking up here to dance.

"What? I suppose you need a dance partner, too?" She was still laughing; she couldn't help but make a joke out of the whole thing, because it was just too ridiculous. She even considered if she'd fallen asleep and that this was a figment of her imagination. But then she realized that she never would have been able to come up with this.

"Gods no. There's no way I would dance with a Mudblood." That knocked the laughter out of her, but it didn't quite get rid of her humor.

"Afraid I'd show you up?" She was getting so sick of him.

It was his turn to snort. "Ha, that's rich. I've seen you in practice. You couldn't come close to a Malfoy."

Was he just here to harass her? She had to deal with that every other day, she wasn't going to deal with it now.

"Well, since I don't feel like sharing space with a squid who's just here to annoy me, I'll be going." She went to walk around him.

He stepped in front of the door. His face was so close to hers, she could feel the heat from his breath. She might have thought to be a bit scared, if she wasn't so irritated by him. "Looks like someone doesn't have anything to back up her argument."

"Malfoy, when it comes to spineless twits, you're right you are superior, but when it comes to the actual races, yours is far beneath everyone."

"How dare you speak to me like that? Or even imply that a filthy bitch like you could rise above one of the most prominent pureblood families in the Wizarding World."

Maybe it was the blind rage she was feeling, or the lateness of the hour, or the complete ridiculousness of the situation, but she found herself pointing her wand at a cowering, sniveling shape with blond hair.

He was looking at her with total fear. He crouched slightly, and furrowed his brows in worry. His lip was quivering as if she, Hermione Granger, would actually hex the boy.

She was remembering the last time she had pointed a wand in such rage, it had been at him, as well and only a year before. She wondered if she should just give him a good punch; He certainly deserved another one. She shrugged, shook her head, and let her wand fall back to her side. She was angry, but it seemed pointless to hex him because it wouldn't actually solve anything. Perhaps, it would even make things worse.

He was gaining back his composure, clearly trying to make the room his own, again. "You wouldn't have done anything, you filthy bitch." He said the last part in almost a whisper as he shook out his clothes and stood straight, but she was pretty sure that she heard him quite clearly.

She was realizing how exhausted she was. "You're not worth it, Malfoy." She started to trudge back towards the door, when he stopped her, again by putting a hand up in front of her.

"You seriously think you're that untouchable, Granger?"

"No, Malfoy. I just think that just because you were taught to dance all your life doesn't mean that you are better in any way to us that weren't spoiled brats from the womb."

"Well my parents at least have the money to spoil me, as opposed to the Weasley-Brat you've been staying on holiday with. Let me guess his mum can't even afford presents. Is that why you and Pufferfish go, so he doesn't cry into his blankie every night?"

That was it. "Molly Weasley is a wonderful witch and a wonderful mother! I almost pity you for never having felt anything like the Weasley home. It's full of love and warmth and all those other things you've never felt before! You're a sad, pathetic man who thinks that knowing how to dance is equivalent to having an actual family!"

He was rounding on her again. She wasn't sure what he was going to do, and by the look of it, he had no idea either.

He got very close to her face at this point. "What did you just say to me?" She shook a little with his hot, gross, racist breath on her face. Fuck, he was awful. She took a step back to get away from it and his frightening, anger-filled eyes.

He looked triumphant and Hermione took a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. He took another step forward, finally finding his dominance in the room. "Not okay with me this close to you, Granger?"

"No I'm not, I'm disgusted by it and by having to be this close to you everyday at dance lessons. You revolt me, Malfoy."

He chuckled. He clearly had found his comfortable place in the room, and she hated that she had let him have it. "Well then why do you dance with me?" When she gave him a quizzical look, he explained, "McGonagall must have given you an option. Professors don't pair people like us up and not give the teacher's pet the option of leaving if they want."

She wound one finger around another nervously. She didn't know why she'd agreed when Professor McGonagall _had _suggested it, so she certainly didn't know how to respond to him now. "Well maybe I didn't think it'd be fair if you got dumped onto someone else because of me. I wouldn't wish you as a dancer partner on any other person in the world."

He took a step closer and grabbed her hand. That was not the reaction that she'd been expecting. "Come on, you could learn quite a bit from me."

His comment had an uncomfortable undertone that she didn't want to worry about right now. For the moment, though, she went with the hand grabbing and followed suit with a hand on his shoulder. She wasn't sure what she was trying to do with that action; maybe match his forwardness or throw him off.

He was obviously caught off guard a little, but he recovered. He slipped a hand around her middle. "So, you think you're going to prove me wrong, do you?"

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Draco

He could feel her muscles tighten when he grabbed her waist. She was clearly nervous around him. They began to dance, and neither looked around to notice that the record player in the corner had started to hum a scratchy waltz.

The first spin they did was awkward. They were both stiff and it was clear she didn't trust him. He felt like he was holding her too tightly and he certainly didn't want to be gripping the brat. So, he loosened a little, but the price was her going completely her own way during one of the parts and actually drifting out of his arms. As she clumsily came to a stop, Draco cackled.

_She can't even spin without someone leading her completely._

"So does that settle it?" Draco was smirking at her. She was bright red and glaring at him.

"No! You let go of me mid-spin. You're the one that can't work cohesively with a partner." He walked back over to her, gruffly grabbing her waist, desperate to prove her wrong.

He held her a little closer, because that way she had no way of blaming his grip for her faults. "Clearly grace is one of those things that you muggle borns also miss out on."

Hermione looked back up at him and bit her lip. Damn, that was an annoying habit of hers!

"Well at least I don't need to hide behind my status for everything." She said it with confidence but there was a little waver to her voice. "Let's just get on with it."

He started moving and she followed suit almost perfectly, until they got to the spin again. He went to spin her and she spun in the wrong direction. Her face collided with his in a flurry of pain and confusion.

He jumped back and grabbed his nose. It hadn't been hard impact, but still there was blood gushing down his front.

She was looking at him in shocked horror. "I'm so sorry! Let me fix that for you!"

"No." He spoke in a gruff voice, a little muffled from the hand he was holding in front of his face. "I don't need _your _help."

"Come on, Malfoy. You can't even see it to fix it yourself!" She was making a bit of a point. If he tried to do it on his own, he might end up removing his nose entirely and that wasn't exactly the most impressive look.

Realizing that he had no other choice, he said, "Fine. But no funny business. Just stop the bleeding."

She looked at him with an expression of utter frustration and he could have sworn through his blurry vision that he saw her roll her eyes. After, she muttered a quick incantation. Instantly, his nose stopped bleeding and she had even mopped up the excess blood from his face and shirt with her spell.

"Honestly, you'd think I was about to turn you into a ferret or something."

.

Hermione

There was the line. She could tell by the way his eyes narrowed in quick look of fear and then anger at the memory of what had happened a few weeks ago.

. They had been having an almost civil time of it and she had to open her mouth. Not that he didn't deserve it after all these years of making fun of her.

"Look, I'm sorry! I didn't mean that." She didn't know why she wanted to apologize or why it bothered her that she'd hurt him, but she felt that she'd crossed a line.

He started to turn away and she grabbed his arm in a desperate attempt to get him to listen to her.

Oops.

"Get your filthy Mudblood hands off me." His face was an inch from hers now. His eyes fiery. His brows furrowed at a point. The comment had done exactly what he had intended. She was wound up. Everything he had done to her in the past came bubbling to the surface.

"Maybe if you were a decent human being, you wouldn't make such a great ferret!" His eyes got even darker, but a glint of something else flashed first. She was too angry to focus on what that hint was.

The heat of the room was licking at her fingertips and she wasn't sure if it was coming from his anger or hers. The space around them seemed smaller than it had been before, the air between them getting denser by the minute.

There they were, standing in the middle of a heat storm, staring into each other's eyes. They were both seething with pent up anger from four years of rivalry and glaring with murderous intent. She'd never stared at him for this long. The mean contrasts of his face were obvious to her this close. But, there was also a softness and vulnerability that she'd never seen before. His eyes were icy, but somehow filled with untamed fire.

She noticed how hot her face had become, and how red Malfoy's was from yelling at her. His mouth was curved in a half-spoken curse word. His chest was rising in tempo with hers. She could see one line of sweat slide down his neck and rest at his collarbone. She swore she saw him lean in.

And then his lips were on hers. It was fiery and passionate, both lips trying to possess the other. Teeth grabbing a little too hard. Hands fighting for leverage. There was nothing soft or romantic about it. Just pure heat.

And then it was over. In an instant. They both stopped quick, realizing what they were doing. He tore his face from hers and stalked out the door.

She sank to the floor, confused, vulnerable, her lips stinging with the feeling of Slytherin. She reached up and felt their heat with her hands. She had just kissed Draco Malfoy.

.

Draco

He steamed as he left the room. What was happening? What was she doing to him? Once he was down to the fifth or sixth floor, he slowed and tried to deepen his breathing.

He had just kissed Hermione Granger.

The Gryffindor princess.

The Mudblood.

He punched a nearby wall and slouched against it. He stared at his bloody hand and remembered his bleeding nose. The whole reason she had been so close to him. He had had to accept her help. She was doing this to him. It was all her fault, and she was going to pay for it. He wasn't sure how, but he'd get her back. Maybe he'd use this to his advantage, or pray on something else, but he'd find a way. And if one person found out about this, ever, she'd be counting her own days.

He focused on revenge as he walked slowly back to the dungeons because it was better than remembering how welcoming her mouth had been. He kept trying to interrupt his own traitor mind with thoughts of her as just some dirty blooded Gryffindor.

He still found himself wandering with images of her lashes and the way she worried her lip, though. And the most recurring element wasn't an image, but the feeling of warmth that her lips had left on his.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/n: Thanks to everyone who is following and reading! Thanks especially to Elfin Maid and giada who have kept me in good spirits with reviews :) My work load is calming down a bit so I'm hoping to be updating again sooner rather than later.**

**And as always, thanks to the necromancer for making sure I'm not doing stupid things with my words.**

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Chapter 4

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Hermione

The next day dawned bright and sunny, as if to pretend that everything the night before hadn't happened. Maybe it hadn't. But all Hermione needed was to feel her lips and remember Draco's against them to realize that they had.

She got out of bed and was immediately self conscious. What if people could tell? Would her lips give her away? Would they be able to smell him on her? She worried for a simple moment before her logical mind returned to her. Clearly they wouldn't be able to tell; she was being ridiculous. Malfoy was making her lose her mind.

She decided on a nice bath, anyway, just to get the feel of him off her.

.

A little while later, she walked down through the porthole and headed to breakfast. As she entered the hall, her mind begged her eyes not to slip towards the Slytherin table, but they wouldn't listen. She made a quick glance towards the other side of the room, fearing that she'd see those blue-grey eyes staring at her, but Malfoy was nowhere in sight. She couldn't decide if that made her glad or disappointed. She shook that feeling off, whatever it was, and headed over to the Gryffindors.

Ron and Harry were already down there, as well as Neville, Ginny, Seamus, and Dean, and the Weasley twins were huddled to the side with Lee, talking over a piece of parchment. Harry shifted over to make room next to him and Hermione took her place.

"You're later than usual, Hermione. Everything okay?" Neville asked politely, while he absentmindedly dumped an entire pitcher of pumpkin juice onto his waffles.

"Oh. Yeah, well I needed to put the finishing touches on a project for Muggle Studies." Nodding, Neville went back to picking at his food and stealing glances at Ginny.

"So, how was last night?" Ron looked up from his food to ask.

Hermione balked and almost dropped the toast she'd been buttering. How had he known? Had he gone looking for her? Were her lips giving it away? "W-What do you mean?" She managed to stammer.

"The three feet essay for Potions." Ron replied between mouthfuls. "You done with it? Could I look at it? I just need a few ideas." Ron smiled with food still in his teeth.

"Oh that. No, I still have a few things to tweak." She shoved some toast into her mouth, hoping to avoid any other questions.

Ginny watched the scene with interest, taking note that Hermione didn't lecture Ron about trying to copy her work again.

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Draco

His morning went by in an unfocused haze. Draco had woken up with a headache and had taken the hottest bath he could stand. He had tried to get the Granger smell off him, but he still smelled it. All damn morning. He was pretty sure it had just burned its way into his nostrils.

It was late when he headed up to the Great Hall for breakfast, and he passed by first with a quick glance to check for Granger. When he decided that the coast was clear, and most of the students had already eaten and left, he wandered in.

Pansy saw him and waved him over to the table. Him and Pansy were on the off-side of a very on-again, off-again relationship. Unfortunately, he had already agreed to take her to the Ball, so they were at a bit of an uncomfortable stalemate. He momentarily tolerated her presence, but made it very clear that they weren't together. She didn't want to argue in fear of him saying that he would no longer take her, so she stayed out of his hair and she got to go to the Ball. It was almost symbiotic.

"Morning, Draco." Pansy was clearly keeping up her end of the bargain by keeping her conversations nice and short.

"Mornin'." Draco shoved a few bits of toast into his mouth as he said it, just to make it obvious that he wasn't up for a full conversation.

"Heya, Mate. Where were you last night?" Blaise had just sat down. Draco gathered the only bit of tolerance he had that morning and pushed it in Blaise's direction.

"Nowhere in particular, just needed a walk."

"Well you missed a pretty good show." Blaise was snickering and pointedly looking next to Draco, at Pansy.

Oh this couldn't be good. "What happened?"

This time it was Theodore Nott's turn to answer. He was sitting right across from Blaise, with an arm around Daphne Greenglass. "Well this one and Pansy had a few too many butterbeers and ended up giving us all a front row seat." He nodded his head towards the girl under his arm and then watched Pansy for the second half of his explanation.

Ah, yes. He'd forgotten that they were having a little party in the Common Room last night. He had left early because Pansy was getting a little too hands-y and he had found himself on the seventh floor. That was when everything else had happened. He swallowed his toast before it was fully chewed and let the pain in his throat distract him from the memory for a minute. He coughed a few times and everyone laughed because they assumed it was because they had him picturing Pansy Parkinson with a few beers in her.

He didn't need his imagination to figure out what Theo had meant, because he'd been around Pansy when she'd first tried Firewhiskey. He knew exactly how she acted when drunk. He remembered their first kiss, despite the amount of Butterbeer and Firewhiskey that he had consumed that night, it was awful. He remembered her hopping on him and just planting everything she had on him. Her tongue was all over his mouth and he wasn't all that into it at the time. But, he'd also never really had anything before her, so he wasn't exactly in a position to judge. Naturally, that didn't stop him. He looked back on it now and wasn't really sure what possessed him to stay with her for so long, especially after she became such a pain in the arse. He remembered this and was certainly glad that he had left early last night. Otherwise, who knows what would have happened between them.

He wondered if Granger would ever get that way. Of course not with him, but Draco assumed that if she kissed someone she probably acted as if they were engaged, afterwards, too. He then thought about the way she acted with that Red-headed doof that was always at her side. He wondered if they'd ever kissed.

He shook out his head. There he was, again, letting Granger infiltrate his mind. He set down the glass he'd picked up to ease his throat and laughed along with everyone else. Everyone was making jibes at the two girls, and he joined in, happy to think about something other than his first kisses with anyone.

"It's not like any of it was serious!" Pansy pleaded with her audience, acting pouty, but Draco could tell that she was loving the attention. He also had a sneaking suspicion that she was waiting to see how he was reacting to it. He wasn't giving her the time of day, though.

"You sticking around tonight, right?" Blaise was talking to him again. "We've still got a ton of Butterbeer left and we figured we would finish it off, tonight."

Draco thought for a moment, but agreed immediately after. He hadn't spent last night with them and already felt like he was the outsider trying to grasp at the jokes. He needed to be there when the first jokes were made, even if that meant dealing with an intoxicated Pansy. Besides, he really needed to get Granger's memory out of his head.

.

After a few more bits of toast and a healthy serving of discussing the types of undergarments Pansy and Daphne had on last night, and they all began to pack up and head towards class. Since they were all mostly in the same year, they headed off to the greenhouses together. He walked off to his first class, in the front of his pack of Slytherins, in a much better mood than he had woken up in.

His good mood disapparated when he walked in and realized that he had somehow forgotten that they had Herbology with Gryffindor that morning. They had all walked in late – as usual – and half the greenhouse was already crawling with red and gold.

He nearly walked into a table when he caught Granger's eye. He quickly looked down and narrowly avoided tripping over Longbottom, who was underneath the nearest table, trying to find something no doubt.

"Lose your arse down there, did you Longbottom? Maybe you should watch it next time so it's not in my way." His mood was going downhill, quickly. Embarrassing himself in front of Granger and her Gryffindor friends really wasn't helping it, either.

He caught the Golden Trio out of the corner of his eye, and the two boys were glaring at him maliciously, having watched the whole scene.

"What are you looking at?" He grumbled at them both.

"Not much, considering most human beings don't yell at people who aren't doing anything to them." Pooper's comically large glasses slid down his nose. And he thinks he's such a tough guy?

"Longbottom's breathing. That's enough for me."

Scar-face was beginning to walk towards him, with the red-head following after, but Professor Sprout decided that that was a good time to walk into the greenhouse. As class began, they didn't get a chance to finish their argument.

Pouter mouthed something and tried to be threatening before he walked back to his table.

"Sod off!" Draco said, just loud enough for only the Gryfindors to hear. It wasn't all that witty of a comeback, but he didn't have the brain capacity to deal with those two when the third kept popping into his head, in all manner of ways.

Granger had been avoiding looking at all three of them during this and was rummaging frantically through her things, so she seemed abnormally happy when class started. Draco ignored the Gryffindors for the majority of class, save a few awkward glances towards Granger. He was just trying to see if she was feeling as weird about last night as he was. The answer came quickly, when the plant she was trying to transplant bit her because she had grabbed the roots instead of the head. He was satisfied that she was thrown off her game, when she sent an entire set of ceramic pots flying to the ground, causing such a loud ruckus that even the plants began yelling.

He watched, laughing as the three Gryffindors tried to pick up the broken pieces, with their yelling plants in hand. It was truly comical, and Draco felt his mood growing warmer again.

.

Hermione

After her morning classes, Hermione needed to get somewhere just to relax. Naturally she headed straight for the library during her free period, oblivious to the fact that when most people immerse themselves in work, relaxing isn't their main goal. She needed to get a few things done before she went back to the Great Hall for lunch, anyway. Knowing she would end up doing most of Harry and Ron's later, she wanted to get a head start on her own Potions paper.

The minute she sat down, she heard a familiar voice.

"Hermy-one!" It was Viktor. How had she forgotten about him with everything that had gone on last night? Viktor Krum had asked her to the dance only a few days before, but it felt like a lifetime ago. She still hadn't found a way to tell anyone except Ginny, who she had ran into right afterwards. Seeing him, she felt a little guilty about her liaison with Malfoy last night. It's not like it had been planned and it's not like it was _ever_ going to repeat itself and besides, they weren't even a couple! But she still felt like she'd betrayed him.

"Hello, Viktor."

"How are 'oo?" Viktor sat down with her.

She wasn't positive how she felt about Viktor. He was nice and sweet, but they weren't a _thing_. She still had unresolved feelings for one of her best friends, but he was being a real git lately. And when Viktor had asked, he had been very sweet about it, so she figured it'd be fun to go with him. But she was also pretty sure that she didn't want him as a boyfriend, or even a quick foreign fling (as if she knew anything about those). She wasn't really sure why he wouldn't make a good boyfriend (like she knew anything about those either), but she just didn't feel it with him. Not to mention, the travel to see each other would just be awful. She'd gotten the feeling that he wanted more, but she mostly just tried to go around the topic when it came up. Maybe she just needed to know him better.

"Vat is this?" Viktor was pointing to her open book, at a particularly gruesome photo of a man who has just ingested bat bile. Not exactly her ideal topic of conversation, but he seemed really interested, so she explained that when bat bile is mixed with pumpkin juice, it causes the drinker to have intense convulsions, until they drink more of the bat bile mixture. Viktor seemed confused and intrigued, but not disgusted, like she'd expected.

"Vy are 'oo reading it?"

"Well, it's not required but it's a supplementary reading for this potions essay I'm writing." Hermione shifted in her chair, expecting the inevitable 'nerdy loser' that he was about to attach to her forehead.

When she looked up, he seemed quite unfazed by what she had said. A few moments passed in silence before Viktor spoke again.

"I am excited for ze dance."

"Oh, me too, Viktor." He had caught her off guard with that comment.

"Do oo 'ave to do vork this veekend?"

"No, classes end tomorrow for the holidays." Hermione explained, while half-researching her books for an alternative method of getting rid of the symptoms of the Bat-Boogey Hex.

He looked disappointed when she looked up. "Oh, so vill 'oo not be in here?"

Oh, he was going to be looking for her, that only slightly put her mind at ease. "Well, I still do have work to do, so I will be in here a few more times before the Ball."

He seemed much happier throughout the rest of the afternoon, where he mostly just watched her do work and flipped through a book or two of his own from time to time. They spoke a few more times, not about much, but just a little pleasant conversation.

Pretty soon, it was lunchtime again, and she still wasn't done with that bloody potions essay. They got up and walked to the Great Hall, together, splitting off when she sat with the Gryffindors, and he walked to the other side of the room, with the Slytherins.

.

That hour flew by, and she was walking with Ginny into the dance lessons again, followed closely by Ron and Harry, once again discussing quidditch. Typically, she'd be aggravated about the two of them talking incessantly about something she knew nothing about, but today, she was happy to be able to tune out without them noticing, for she had too many other things left on her mind.

This was the part of the day that she had been dreading. After everything that happened last night, she wasn't sure how she was going to face spending an hour dancing with Malfoy.

She caught Malfoy's eye while walking into the room, and held it for a moment before ducking her head. She didn't want him to think her a coward, but she couldn't help but turn away from that intense steely gaze.

And then it was time to dance. People partnered up, McGonagall started moving around with Snape. And Hermione and Malfoy just looked at each other.

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Draco

She was walking towards him, determined to keep her head up. He had every intention of humiliating her for the entire class. There was just one problem: the closer she came to him, the closer he wanted to be to her.

Finally she was standing in front of him and he briskly grabbed her hand and waist. It was all he could do to stop from pulling her into his arms.

_Salazar, what was she doing to him?! _"Let's just get this over with." He muttered gruffly, staring more at her mouth than the rest of her face. He couldn't help but remember those lips and – _Stop! _He was basically yelling to himself.

By the time he got himself out of his own thoughts, he was halfway through the first dance, and Granger hadn't tripped once. She seemed very focused and kept narrowing her eyes and looking down at her feet. Her lip was tucked between her teeth again, and felt something pull beneath his navel. _Was this Gryffindor actually turning him on?! _That was too terrifying to even think about.

So, instead he focused on her dancing; it was the one part of her he could critique at the moment. "Look at my face when you dance, your feet will know what to do." He put his fingers under her chin to look into his eyes.

There was a flash of confusion written in her eyes, but it was soon replaced by something very similar to thankfulness, and then followed by skepticism.

"Just trust me. If I have to be your partner, I would rather not have you fall all over the place. It says something about me too, you know."

When it came time for the spin, she got that nervous look in her eyes that she got every time it came to spin, and stared directly at her feet. He prompted her with his fingers again.

"Keep an eye on my face every time you can. You'd be surprised how much more in balance you stay." She flew out of his arms and back into them gracefully, without missing a beat, or a look for that matter. She was smiling. Wow, it occurred to him that he'd never seen her smile this close before.

"That was brilliant!" They had stopped dancing for a minute, for her to acknowledge her victory. "Thanks, Malfoy." She was looking him in the face, bravely. Granger almost looked like she was daring him to say anything back.

He found himself smiling at her, which turned her smile of defiance into a look that combined confusion and genuine happiness. Malfoy felt his smile grow a little into a playful smirk. He held her tighter and watched for her reaction. She barely gave him one, but her smile grew, too.

They continued the dance without noticing what their feet were doing. They stayed like that for a few moments, until they ended up little more than an inch apart. Merlin, he couldn't ignore the way his body was reacting to her touch and her closeness. He wanted her. He knew it, and everything else faded away.

He didn't realize that he'd stopped moving his feet, until Granger ran into him because she was still dancing. Their crash made him fall backwards, with Granger toppling onto his front. Everyone stopped to look at them. That moment smashed the thoughts he'd been having into pieces.

"Gerroff me!" Granger rolled off him, seemingly stung by his sudden attitude and the fact that she had once again caused him injury.

He was being nice to this Gryffindor brat! Why? He would end up dead if he wasn't careful, her being as clumsy as she is. His brain worked in overdrive to think of all the things he could say to her, but he couldn't bring himself to actually say any of them. That bothered him, too. Why wasn't he blasting her with names? He couldn't figure himself out.

After everyone in the room decided that they were both okay and no one was hurt to make it interesting, they went back to their dancing. He gruffly got to his feet and let Granger scramble for her own footing. For the rest of the afternoon, he was careful not to let her engage him, even his mind, for fear of acting on something that would ruin them both. It seemed like after the fall, she was being very careful not to talk to him or even meet his eyes, either.

With both of them not speaking, the afternoon lasted for what seemed like days. When it was finally over, he grabbed his cloak and his bookbag and barely spoke a word to anyone as he headed back towards the common room.

Focusing on something else might help, so he was trying to figure out something to do, when Blaise caught up with him. Then he remembered: The party. That would surely get his brain back to the Slytherin state of mind.

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Hermione

She slowly gathered her things together, focusing on how strange it had been to have Malfoy being nice for once. With her mind occupied on what the Slytherin could possibly be up to, she headed out the door with Ginny, Harry, Ron and Neville in tow.

"Oi!" She turned around and saw two redheads making their way through the crowd towards their little group. Fred came around to one side and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and kept walking. Once the slightly larger group was outside the dungeons and a safe distance from everyone else, Fred and George stopped the group and leaned in.

It reminded Hermione of a football huddle. "Have we got a surprise for you." The twins were speaking in unison, looking devilishly around the circle at everyone.

"We may have been taking a stroll through the dungeon today –" George started the conversation.

"And we come across a fair bit of news." They were milking their information, as they always did, and as usual, had the whole group hooked on their every word.

Fred smiled at his brother. "Should we tell them?"

"Oh come on, guys!" Ron was always playing directly into their hands.

"Well, the Slytherins were planning a party." George began again after a minute.

"But won't they be surprised when all the Butterbeer – "

"–has gone missing –"

"under mysterious circumstances."

"What?" Ron was confused, clearly. And it also didn't look like Harry or Neville had quite gotten it either. However, Ginny knew her brothers all too well and Hermione could obviously tell what they were planning. The girls shared a look of irritation.

George put one arm around Harry and the other around Ron. "Well, mates, we are having a party."

"And the Slytherins have graciously offered the drinks." The twins shared a sly smile, again.

"And how exactly do you think you're getting away with that?" Hermione huffed.

"Well, my dear Hermione" George was now on the other side of her. "We've already done it, so there isn't really anything that we need to get away with. There happens to be two barrels of Butterbeer sitting in the common room as we speak."

"Bloody brilliant!" Ron got the first words, and then there was a rumble of affirmation from the rest of the group.

Hermione looked at them all, not knowing what to say. "Well, I'm certainly not going to be a part of this."

"Oh come on, 'Mione."

"We need to have everyone there!"

"It'll be the biggest 'fuck you' to Slytherin we've ever had!"

"It can even be an end-of-classes party." The twins were sharing their story as usual, but they were both staring directly at Hermione.

"Classes don't end until tomorrow." Hermione was offering them her logic, and they just weren't taking it

"Well then it'll be a day early." Fred stood up and waved his hand.

"Any reason for a party, right mate?" George popped up with him.

"Come on, 'Mione!" Ron interrupted his brothers to try and convince her on his own. "It won't be the same without you."

"Don't even start with me, Ronald. And Harry, what are you doing going along with such madness? You're a Triwizard Champion for Godric's sake!

Harry looked a bit ashamed, but he still said, "well, everyone could really use a break, Hermione. It'll be fun."

"No, you guys are going to get caught, and I'm not going to be a part of it." She turned around and stomped away. They were being stupid. Did they really want to get the entire House expelled, that would certainly leave the Slytherins a sure-fire way of winning the House Cup. And did they really want to jeapordize things less than a week before the Yule Ball? Angrily, she walked quickly towards the common room, thinking to get a head start on her work.


	5. Chapter 5

a/n: I'm sorry this Chapter came out so late! The holidays and finals have really caught up to me.

Thanks to everyone still reading, or reading for those of you here for the first time. Thanks for the reviews, Elfin Maid and telekinesis1728, and to those people who have followed and favorited! It means so much to me, as a first fic writer.

I always wondered what actually went on behind closed doors in the House common rooms, so this was an attempt to imagine that they were anything like normal teenagers. Hope you enjoy!

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Chapter 5

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"Step up, step up! Pick your poison!" Harry and Ron were laughing along with the rest of the Gryffindors, while the twins did their usual salesman routine. They were standing a top of one barrel of Butterbeer, while pouring out of the other. As one shuffled overflowing drinks into eager hands, the other offered strange looking candies to everyone else, and even convinced a few, two being the Creevy boys, to grab a handful.

Ron and Harry had made sure to get to the common room right as Fred and George did, just to make sure that they knew what the twins were going to do to the food. They had this annoying tendency to add little gag hexes to the candy that they gave out. There were a few Gryffindors, like Colin Creevy who still grabbed a few, choosing to forget about the times when they had been slightly poisoned or temporarily disfigured.

Harry and Ron had successfully gotten their drinks and avoided anything else from the twins all night. Now, they were sitting in corner chairs, waiting for a spectacle, knowing Fred and George wouldn't have missed this opportunity.

Ginny walked up and tried to sneak a cup off the table, but alas, George slapped her hand away. "None for you, you're our sister!" As always, the twins seemed to have eyes everywhere.

Flipping her hair back, she walked over to her other brother and Harry, seemingly fine to be turned away by them. But as soon as Ron wasn't paying attention, she quickly swiped the cup out of Ron's hand and took a large gulp. With the cup still in hand, she walked over to where she had been sitting with a few of the younger girls, grinning the whole time.

"Hey! Quit your laughing, Harry!" Harry doubled over laughing, while Ron walked back over to the twins, hanging his shoulders a little bit.

"Well, what happened to the old one?" The twins were very aware of what had happened with it, but they just wanted Ron to say it.

"Come on, guys, I'm your brother."

"And as our brother, we will be sure to tell Mum that _you_ were the one to help Ginny have her first drink."

"Yes, it's not our fault you were bested by our little sister." The other finished.

"Gits." Ron mumbled as he walked away, defeated.

"Hear that, Fred? Ronny called us gits."

"Well, we'll certainly be cleaning his mouth out with soap one of these days." The twins smiled to each other and suddenly Ron's mouth started to foam. Ron danced around for a minute or two before pulling a small bar of soap from behind his teeth.

The whole room laughed.

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Draco

"This can't be right." Blaise was pacing with Theo and Draco in tow. "I left it all right there!" The three Slytherins had come down to a hidden section in the dungeons, to grab the Butterbeer for the party that would commence that night. Blaise had hidden it down here, in a secret inlet that only the Slytherins knew about. It was a little section of the dungeons that was hidden behind a false wall covered with old brooms and obscuring hexes, but when they got back there to seach, the room was empty. The two barrels had disappeared.

"Did you place a hiding charm on it? I do that sometimes and then forget." Theo suggested.

The other two boys just looked at him. "You're as bad as Longbottom, Theo!" Theo might have argued with Blaise, if it weren't for the fact that Blaise was angry. Blaise didn't get truly angry that often; he was usually the calmest of them all, but when he did get angry, it was worse than anyone else, and no one wanted to cross him.

"No, I have a feeling it was something much worse." He was talking through gritted teeth. "I suspect thievery!"

"But Blaise, who would take from us? And who even knew that it was there? Think it was someone in the House?" As Draco posed his questions, Blaise looked around the dungeon some more.

"I'm not sure. But I don't think anyone in our House would bother taking it. Or would really risk it." Blaise did make a point. Even as fourth years, the small band of boys had already made their presence known and most of the House respected them.

"Also, we already agreed to have a House party, taking it would be pointless considering everyone was going to get to have some anyway." Theo's voice chimed in, a little shaky as he spoke.

"There's that brain of yours that we all knew you had!" Draco patted Theo's back as Theo put on a perfect Slytherin mask of disdain.

"You're right. And I think I know who would have done it." Blaise stood up, looking determined. "Gryffindors."

Draco popped up at this explanation: Anything to blame Gryffindors!

The three of them walked quickly through the dungeons and into the House where everyone else was milling around. The fact that the barrels were missing had made its way through the House, and everyone seemed to be waiting for what the consensus was.

"We've got an errand to run, but we're going to get our alcohol back!" This was met with cheers from both Slytherins and Drumstrang, who seemed particularly confused by the idea of not getting their hands on a simple thing like Butterbeer. Apparently, they didn't have a drinking age in the North.

The three gathered up their friends and decided to make their way towards Gryffindor Tower. They, out of anyone, knew their way around Hogwarts without getting caught. They were Slytherins for Merlin's sake.

Draco and Blaise hovered by the door of the dungeons with Theo, Pansy, Daphne, and Astoria. Looking at their little group, Blaise whispered to Draco, "I'd get Crabbe and Goyle for this one."

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Hermione

Sitting in the library, Hermione fumed. Her entire house was having a party, on a school night!

Madame Prince allowed her access to the library, even when the librarian wasn't in there because she knew that Hermione was a responsible student, and she spent more time in there than anyone else.

She had finished the Potions essay and her Muggle Studies project and had moved onto studying for Transfiguration.

In her frustration, her robes caught a stack of books, and sent them tumbling to the ground. "Damn robes!" She was talking to herself, again. This was no good.

She was just about done with her practice theory essay, when there was a rapping at the library door. Wondering who it could be, Hermione came around and peeked through the stacks at the front gate. She couldn't see much, but what she saw was a rat of ginger hair sticking out over the top of the metal guard.

With a frustrated whoosh of her wand, the guard gate was up and she was standing in front of her two best friends.

"Hey, Hermione." Ron was standing a little behind Harry as he spoke to her. The boys were looking at her hair sticking out and her ruffled robes and that frustrated face she put on every time she was mad at them. She certainly looked like a force to be reckoned with.

"What do you two want?"

"'Mione, you should come up to the party." Ron stepped out from behind Harry to give Hermione his few thoughts on the matter.

"And why should I do that? To watch you and the rest of our house get caught for illegally drinking, _on a school night_." Her voice got higher at the end, proving just what part of the whole thing bothered her most.

"Come on! We're having a good time and I know you're missing it!" Harry walked towards her books on the table and placed a hand on one. "Let me guess, you've done all the reading for the next month?"

Hermione huffed at that. "Well, at least I'm doing something constructive, unlike you. You haven't even been working on your egg!"

Hermione caught Harry's grimace before he responded. "How's this: You come up to the party tonight and then tomorrow you can help me with the egg for as long as you want."

Hermione bit her lip, contemplating what Harry said. If she went up with them tonight, they were right, she probably would have fun. And Harry had offered to actually work on the egg! "Alright, you two. But I do expect it to be done early. We _do_ have classes in the morning."

As Hermione headed off to gather her things and lock up the Library, Harry and Ron grinned at each other, victoriously. "You try to tell the twins that." Harry laughed at Ron as the three of them started the trek towards Gryffindor Tower.

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Draco

Blaise, Theo and Draco were all lined up outside the Gryffindor Common Room behind a large statue, placed strategically for snooping, while the others hung back around the corner waiting to see what they three boys found out. They had been there only a few minutes, still deciding what to do, when they had watched Golden Boy and the redhead come tumbling out of the porthole, too distracted with themselves to notice a group of Slytherins hiding outside.

"We'll catch 'em coming back through and use them to get through the porthole." Blaise had rounded everybody up and was making sure that they knew the plan. Typically, Draco would have been annoyed that he wasn't the one put in charge, but he didn't mind when it was Blaise taking over. After all, he was doing an alright job, Draco supposed.

The group of Slytherins didn't have trouble getting up to the Gryffindor Tower. They had all known the way from sneaking around in their first year. Draco remembered getting introduced to 'the wall'.

_"This wall's very important, newbies." It was the first day after the welcoming feast and the older Slytherins had brought the first years down to a section of the dungeon that was rarely used. They brought them to a wall with a bunch of names carved into it with random numbers written next to them._

_ "Every year, the first years race each other to finding the other House Dormitories. When you've found them and are able to tell us where they are, you'll write your name in this wall." The older Slytherins had a fun time explaining this to the newbies every year._

_ Naturally, Draco had already known all about this. His father had been explaining this to him for as many years as he could remember. Lucius had found them all in just under two weeks and Draco had pushed to the front of the group to get a look at the names. He saw is father's right under some guy named Tom. Tom had held the record for a long time, and no one could ever figure out how he had found all the other houses in just two days._

_ Draco also noticed that _Severus_ was scrawled fifth from the top. Word was that he had found the Gryffindor House before anyone, including Tom. Everyone made the list eventually, and it was a point of pride for the Slytherin House._

_ "Alright everyone, I'm Steven. When you've found all the houses, you come up to me or Damion here and we'll point you back down this direction."_

That had been a big day for Draco. He had then spent the next three weeks following that obnoxious Golden Boy around, among others, to find the houses.

As the Slytherins had made their way up to Gryffindor Tower, he remembered the day he got to put himself on the wall.

_He had walked up to the bloke who had given them the tour that first day. They were in the common room and Draco announced that he'd found all the houses. He then leaned in and whispered all of them to Steven. He was so proud of himself. He'd finished before most of his class. And the few before him had probably cheated, anyway._

_ "Alright. Draco here, has found himself the houses, we'll be heading down to the Wall now." Steven got up and most of the Common Room did, too._

_ They all followed Steven and Draco down to the hidden part of the dungeon and watched as Draco carefully etched his name into the wall._

Draco - 21

_ As soon as he was done, he watched as it rearranged to find the perfect spot for him, just a few spots below his potion's master._

_ The older students always passed on that it was a part of the job of being a Slytherin to know where others slept. They were the sly ones, after all. There was also always the implication that it was good to know where they lived because you never know when you would need that sort of information._

Times like now.

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Hermione

"So you two left simply to get me out of the library?" The boys looked at each other as Hermione quickly flipped her head between the two of them.

"Well, there were a few things we also wanted to escape." Harry started off about Fred and George and the two boys began explaining the party to Hermione.

Fred and George had gotten a few drinks in and began wearing a few of Colin's badges because they just found it absolutely hilarious that they were currently stuck on the Potter Stinks half.

"They just started prancing around Harry and singing Potter Stinks." Ron was snorting while he told Hermione.

"Well, that's just mean."

"No, it was fine. The badges don't bother me much, but that doesn't mean that when the twins get a hold of them..." Harry trailed off but both companions could tell what types of things he had in mind.

Hermione gave Ron a warning look when he began to finish the statement for Harry.

"Well it's still not very supportive. And when you're being so brave with it all, too." Ron got quiet when she started discussing the Tournament, so Hermione reverted back to the original conversation.

"That certainly would have gotten anyone out of the room, I suppose."

"Well, they also stopped letting Ron drink. Ginny stole his drink so they blamed him and stopped allowing him Butterbeer." The two laughed as Ron sputtered out what he was about to do just as soon as their backs were turned.

They turned a few more corners and were back in front of the Portrait.

"Wasn't it something about Sherbert?" Ron said as they stared at the sleeping portrait.

"No, it was _corpus_-something." Harry and Ron both scrounged for the password.

"No, you're both wrong. She started doing different parts of Christmas carols this week. Now, I hope she hasn't changed it in the last few hours." Hermione cleared her throat and said, "O come all ye faithful."

The Fat Lady woke with a start and a growl. "What do you think you're doing waking a woman up like that?"

Hermione said the password, again. The Fat Lady just humphed and said, "I was woken up for this, the least you could do is sing it."

"What? I just need the lyrics, don't I?" Hermione spluttered.

"Well, normally, yes. But you woke me up from a great dream about the War Hero Portrait up on the fifth floor and –" She had apparently recognized that her company wasn't up to hear such stories. "Oh never mind. Just sing it." Hermione looked hopefully at her two companions.

"Nope, this is all you, Hermione." They both wore toothy grins. They knew how much she hated to sing.

She could have sworn she heard a snicker behind her, but it didn't sound like Harry or Ron. She didn't give it much thought, though, because a bright flush was coating her cheeks and she was focusing on making her voice as small as possible.

_"Oh come all ye faithful."_

"That's more like it, young lady. You may pass." The portrait swung open, revealing a very hearty party.

The boys grabbed her by the arms and pulled her in as they snorted about Hermione's bright red face.

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Draco

"Now's our chance." The group of Slytherins walked quietly up to the portrait which had just fallen asleep again.

_"Oh come all ye faithful."_

The Fat Lady groaned again and looked up lazily. "Oh, what now?!"

_"Oh come all ye faithful."_ Blaise sang it again to remind her why they were there.

"Oh fine, just go in, go in." The portrait swung open again, this time inviting eight Slytherins in.


End file.

Harry Potter, Romance